


light that slants through.

by kuugeki (strangestirony)



Series: the deaths of a martyr [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, Canonical Character Death, Character study???, Drabble, Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Just people dying in general cause its war, Light Angst, More people suffering because it’s the naruto version of like the dark ages, Rambling, Snakes crawling in the grape vine, Sort Of, Whump, not really - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:01:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24001021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strangestirony/pseuds/kuugeki
Summary: The days leading to Izuna’s death are paved with decade old regrets and the sense of inner peace that he cannot chase away.
Relationships: Uchiha Izuna & Uchiha Madara
Series: the deaths of a martyr [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1847620
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	light that slants through.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah; okay, have fun reading this dumpster fire. 
> 
> (Not Beta-read.) 

Human life is fragile; death on the cusp of their short existence. A thin cord that could snap at a moments notice, at a gentle tug. This, Izuna knows with a bitter intimacy. It was sort of like what it would feel like if one's lover had been swapping the bed they laid in every night. Or more crudely, what it felt like when you had been chewing on fifty lemons consecutively.

_(Death waited for nobody.)_

A taste that was not short of being called acidic floods his mouth. Even beneath the tranquility Izuna could feel the anguish that burned and wanted to burst at any living moment.

_(Why did you take them away? They were children!)_

Death waited for nobody; whether they be an frail man, or an able woman. Or a child—children herded off to war, bewitched by sugar-coated lies that would burn the throat with it's sweetness. Only to be slaughtered like cattle, mere cannon-fodder, unworthy to live beyond their first decade of life, culled and embraced into the Shinigami's cold oblivion.

Izuna never really liked sweet things despite his apparent fondness for them.

_(My brothers... I was suppose to protect them.)_

Death did not wait for an esteemed leader of a clan. A man revered and feared in the same breath and certainly it didn't wait for any fail-safe, any replacement—any failure. Collected and retrieved all the same.

_(It did not wait for Tajima. Who had been their leader—his father. Who had held out his hand and pushed them all into battlefearwarblooddeath— all for the clan. All for Uchiha pride. Hubris.)_

It will be over soon.

But, only for him.

Because Izuna is a human being that is at the end of his frayed cord, with no cure and of a future thats slipping past his fingers by the minute; a deadman walking.

* * *

  
Perhaps it started on that day at the river bank. Though, Izuna wasn't confident to say _which_ day, since he knows there were many. Perhaps it was the first day his brother had stumbled upon the _SenjuTrashMurderer—_ Hashirama Senju. Perhaps it was when his unspoken dream that not even Izuna knew— _I know now, I know now and that no longer matters—_ had been reciprocated by another.

_(A dream born from desperation and grief. A safe haven for kids who no longer have to participate in a war nobody knows the reason for anymore. For blood to equate more blood, for families distraught and children dead.)_

Or maybe it was when those days where boys could stay boys and not have to pretend to be men—afternoons, evenings, mornings under a bright blue sky, alight with a blazing childhood dream and a resonating heart to share that with—had shattered. Like a deep genjutsu that preyed on one's most coveted dreams and aspirations had been dispelled right before their eyes.

Izuna couldn't keep out a trail of guilt after that day. Despite the _awehurtbetrayaljoy—_

_(Nii-sama had unlocked the Sharingan! We could have a chance—_

— _he looked so happy—_

— _the sharingan was said to only unlock under heavy emotions—_

— _please_ _don't lie to me.)_

Their brothers, those that they have sworn the protect, since the day Izuna had taken a look at them—all three of them, when they had once been held in the gentle arms of mother, frail and crying— _precious_. Dying, life slipping away _too early, their eyes, glassy like dolls that would forever engrave themselves into his memories, his being, his dreams—_

Izuna never forgot their expression, frozen in time, or the mess of their bodies after the _fucking Senjus, those fucking bastards—_ had gone through them.

Hatred burned in his eyes until tears fell.

_(But maybe—)_

He can't leave. He has to stay, Izuna has to _stay, he's the only one left. He's sworn, he's promised to stay alive, he can't leave his brother—_

Izuna had also sworn to protect and care for his younger ones.

_(No. I can't— those bastards. They're just—)_

And as their numbered days had come to an end, look where that had gotten them.

_(He can't hope. Because the punishment for those that pursued the addicting emotion of hope had always been dragged back down to the disappointment of reality.)_

* * *

"Nii-sama—"

" _I can't—_ "

"Please."

"No, no. _I can't do that, you can't ask me to do that—"_

"You know Nii-sama, walking around with your Sharingan tells people a lot of things." Some, in awe of it's power—but ever since that day at the river bank, ever since his brother had sat upon the seat at the front of the table, stone-faced, bearing the responsibilities he shouldn't have to yet, feeling the weight of _thousands_ upon his conscience—the awakening of their eyes has been more common. Some quietly seethe at the arrogance to just continuously flaunt such a thing. _If only they knew—_

A cough.

" _No_."

Izuna fails the first time.

_(Time. Timetimetime. He's running out of time.)_

He can't fail again.

* * *

  
Pain is a familiar weight that Izuna is forced to bear.

And soon, he shall also welcome the darkness. Not for long. Not for when he's aware. Soon everything will wash away into _nothing_.

* * *

  
In the end, death is inevitable and inescapable. The road which leads to the end will never be forever, as long as it may seem. No matter how much you fight the pain of going out in a blaze of glory, or the miserable darkness of a coward's death—

Or one out of love and sacrifice, of adoration. Of bitterness¹ and pain, of _angerhatredhatehatehateburning—_

All ends.

Izuna was sloppy, he was careless and he paid with his life.

_(I'm going to die.)_

_(I can't leave my brother. I'm the only one left.)_

_(There is nothing else I can do. But_ _—)_

* * *

"We know I'm going to die."

He's not special and Izuna is not as different as any other man. Who has lived their share and who has died, willingly or otherwise. _Everyone dies._

"N-no. I refuse to believe this. I _can fix this. Izuna, I can fix you—"_

Madara, his beloved older brother who has been in a fervor since the time when he first occupied this space. Izuna gets his manic desperation, he really does. _Thelastthelastfailure—_

" _You_ _can't leave me_. _Not again, not another—"_

_"I won't. I'll always be with you if you—"_

_"—No! Nono, you're going to live. Izuna you're going to live I will save you,"_

_"You know that's not possible. Nii-sama, I never took you for a hopeless optimist."_

They are not allowed to dream and hope. Not in the way it counts, not in the way it _lifts you_ , with the faith and stringing relief—

" _You're going to be alright. Nii-sama, I will look with you to the future you're going to build, through our eyes. I'll always be with you, don't be afraid. I'm not going anywhere—"_

* * *

The dark is an unsuspecting comfort. Hazy, everywhere and nowhere at the same time. No sense of space or dimension, just an overwhelming black that pressed and shoved, and _enveloped like mother had used to—_ it's eerily calm. It gnaws on his nerves and chews on his fraying consciousness.

He won't be here for long.

Nobody waits for long when Death looms above them with a greedy grin, ready to _reap—_

—and Izuna's gone. A phantom in the wind, with nothing to remember him by. Bones in the earth, until they're nothing but ashes and a pair of eyes which will gift his brother with the perfect sight.

That is fine with him.  
  


**Author's Note:**

> ¹ Bitterness for who, he cannot really recall. Is it the clan, who calls for blood, who demands that he fightfightfight with everything he has, until all of his brothers are dead, until all of his limbs are gone and he's nothing, but a coalition of burning hatred and regrets, of thoughts that grieve and hurt and feel. The clan who breathes out fire that burns it's enemies and itself? Who has shaped his father into the war mongering fool? And his brother who cannot stop fighting to amend for all of the deaths done under his rule? Or is it those tree-huggers that delude themselves into thinking they’re good, with a beacon of light shining on them like saints, when he knows that they’re just the same.


End file.
